A synthetic membrane that self assembles and is easily produced may lead to better gas separation, water purification, drug delivery and DNA recognition, according to an international team of researchers.

Penn State Smeal College of Business junior Luke Metaxas made Penn State history recently as the Penn State Board of Trustees met at Penn State Beaver. Metaxas attended his inaugural BOT meeting as the first student-elected student trustee.

Kelsie Abduljawad, of Doha, Qatar, graduated in December 2014 with a master’s degree in educational leadership that she completed online through Penn State World Campus. She has been able to apply what she learned in her coursework to help with decision-making for her school’s accreditation, professional development programming and curriculum.

A new 12-credit graduate certificate in international human resources and employment relations (IHRER) is being offered through Penn State World Campus by the School of Labor and Employment Relations (LER).

Dr. Lauren Van Scoy, assistant professor of medicine and humanities, has been named a Parker B. Francis Fellow. She will receive $156,000 over three years for her research project “Evaluating the impact of a conversation game on advance care planning activities.”

Amr Elnashai, Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of Engineering at Penn State, and Luigi Di Sarno, assistant professor of earthquake engineering at the University of Sannio, Benevento, Italy, have released a second edition of their text “Fundamentals of Earthquake Engineering: From Source to Fragility.”

Tim Kane, professor of electrical engineering in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the College of Engineering at Penn State, has been appointed as the new director of the Center for Optical Wireless Applications (COWA).

Penn State is now accepting applications for the online master’s degree in electrical engineering offered through Penn State World Campus. The program will be taught by engineering faculty from Penn State’s Harrisburg campus and the College of Engineering at University Park.